The worldwide movement to instill a culture of peace has many roots, branches and leaves. Send us your story or some information about what's happening in your part of the world...
The Shift Network Alliance
Announcing: In an collaborative Alliance with the Shift Network for Summer of Peace, 2012, International Cities of Peace will support Peace Ambassadors from all over the world to mentor new cities of peace. Preliminary Vision: to add 50 new cities of peace during 2012 with a special signing in Washington D.C. on September 21, International Day of Peace. Details to come!
Dayton, Ohio: Salem Avenue Peace Corridor
Free “Puzzle of Light” Concert
The Salem Avenue Peace Corridor is a vitalization effort to establish Dayton’s Salem Avenue and adjacent neighborhoods as communities of peace by intentionally cultivating safety, prosperity, and quality of life.
To celebrate progress, the Corridor is sponsoring three free summer concerts featuring great local blues, jazz, and reggae music:
• First Friday, August 5: Puzzle of Light
• First Friday, September 2: Seefari Reggae
Food available from Cousin Vinnie Pizza. The concerts are free but donations are encouraged and will benefit the Peace Corridor and the Music Lives On project.
FREE health screenings for blood, blood sugar, cholesterol and heart risk analysis will be available each night of the shows -- complements of Good Samaritan Hospital!
The Summer of Sound series is co-sponsored by Good Samaritan Hospital, First Baptist Church Dayton, ManCo Real Estate and Property Management, the Salem Avenue Business Association, Real Living Realty, University Row Neighborhood Association, and Grace United Methodist Church
The Salem Avenue Peace Corridor is a vitalization effort to establish Salem Avenue and adjacent neighborhoods as communities of peace by intentionally cultivating safety, prosperity, community, and quality of life. Website Facebook
Makati City, Philippines: City of Peace
From Paula Zayco Aberasturi
New City of Peace!
“I am a mother of two beautifulchildren: Ainara (6) and Domeka (3). I am also a lawyer although for the last 2 years, I have put my profession on the back burner, as I yearn for a more transformative justice system- one that recognizes our common humanity and heals rather than condemns. I would like to see my work unfold in transforming our justice system for juvenile delinquents (ages 14-17) . We call them Children in Conflict with the Law.
"There are thousands of children in prison and in juvenile detention centers. While we have laws that supposedly protect these children who have committed crime (petty crimes, theft, vagrancy, car theft), the system is such that they are treated as criminals, and are forced to be imprisoned, under conditions that are almost inhumane and violative of the rights of children. They sleep on the floor (40 to a small cell), do not have enough food to eat (food is rationed and they only eat a cup of rice or noodles every day), soap is a luxury, and they do not get to go outside, staying locked up in the small cells. Not only that, there is little capacity left for healing and these children usually are scarred for life, often repeating the cycle of violence throughout their lifetimes.
"Since I began writing to you, several avenues have opened up, or I have thought of some ways I could begin. First, what I would like to do is start a dialogue with the Department of Social Welfare and Development and begin work with just a small center. The DSWD has a unit called the Council for the Welfare of Children. Yearly, they have a Presidential award system that awards Child Friendly Municipalities and Cities.
"I mention this as it reminds me of Cities of Peace. I might be able to begin there. Another alternative I see is to work with the Juvenile Justice Network, another organization that was formed in the 1990's, when the plight of our juvenile delinquents was made a big issue by Unicef and other humanitarian agencies.
"The reforms were done, the laws were passed, but I have yet to see a real transformation of the system. What we have now is a strict adherence to law, but without really ensuring the rights and dignity of the child. I have written the Juvenile Justice Network but I am yet to really see how I could go from there. A third opening I saw was just today when I read from my research that an old friend of mine who is now a mayor, has just signed a Memorandum of Agreement with an NGO to run a rehabilitation facility for juvenile delinquents in Valenzuela. I might be able to work hand in hand with him and make his city a City of Peace! My only problem would be that it is a few hours from Makati (and if this is the project I start with, I would have to change the city.) Still, I will be meeting with him this weekend to talk to him about it.
"The two organizations I am affiliated with are MISSION (for more information http://www.imaginalmission.net/newjoomla) and GLACC. I am active with MISSION and I am a part of the core group and a founding member. I see a lot of work with MISSION, as the City of Peace is clearly congruent to its vision.
"GLACC (Global Legal Action on Climate Change) was a group formed by an environmental lawyer, Antonio Oposa. We initially formed it with the intention of using the Initiative process to go against local governments for environmental damage, or to ensure the implementation of environmental laws. The group has been inactive the last few years though. I have spoken to its founder Atty. Tony Oposa and he consented that I reactivate its membership again. The group might be a good venue so I could network with more lawyers who might want to take on work for the City of Peace, although I still do not know the extent of this group's participation.
"Aside from these, my husband is a farmer and we have a Biodynamic flower and vegetable farm in Bukidnon. We grow flowers and vegetables with a backdrop of the mountain ranges of Mt. Kitanglad. We also have grass fed beef, our cattle is raised 100% on pasture and have some pigs raised on pasture as well. Our farming methods is biodynamic (treating the entire farm, plants, animals, farmers, the cosmos as an entire ecosystem), we follow sustainable practices and practice indigenous methods of farming. I run a blog on the farm too and if you would like to check it it's http:flowerdepot.wordpress.com. I also have a deep fondness for the sea, my country having among the world’s most magnificent beaches. Aside from a love affair with nature, I have a passion for writing, and express my creativity through the gift of the written word."
Since this writing, Paula and other have signed the ICP Letter of Intent for Makati, Philippines and are working to add more cities of peace throughout their country.
New City of Peace!
Pathumthani, Thailand
From Ping Ping Worakate Thangsurbkul, ICP Advisory Council and Program Director, Peace Revolution/World Peace Initiative Foundation
The Peace Revolution Program was started in 2008 as a pilot project with the intention of helping people realize that World Peace could be achieved through each person seeking their own Inner Peace. One person at a time!
Ping Ping “Will attend Global Youth Assembly in Edmonton, Canada, from July 26- August 5, 2011...PIPO!”
Website: http://www.peacerevolution2010.org
Peace Revolution - Global Peace on the Move V Fellowship in Phuket, Thailand.
20 young peace activist from 12 countries around the globe came together in June 2011 at the idyllic island of 'Mooktawan' in Phuket, Thailand for Peace Revolution's Global Peace on the Move 5 Fellowship in order to train themselves in the art of inner peace and learn about a culture of peace that can be shared and developed in their own cities and communities. These young peace rebels are part of a generation that want sustainable peace in themselves, and want to change the world from the inside out, starting with themselves. Peace Revolution gave them the once in a lifetime opportunity to meet like-minded youth, develop an international network of peace workers while practicing the ageless art of meditation and cultivating a deeper inner peace. (Please watch the video here:
Eugene, Oregon: City of Peace
From David Hazen, ICP Advisory Council
Do-It-Yourself Resilient Neighborhood
", I got a bee in my bonnet to go door-to-door to ask my neighbors to come to my house and watch a video on disaster preparedness borrowed from our city's office of Risk Management as part of the Map Your Neighborhood (links to 2 min. Youtube) program.
"The response has been overwhelmingly positive. We had an exciting evening of face-to-face connection! To me, this is how a City of Peace begins, at the neighborhood level, and I hadn't seen it until a few weeks ago. The event naturally sparked a strictly social followup, a meet-your-neighbors party with food on the 4th of July. The outcome that I envision will be a strong local network of teams that know what to do before, during, and after a natural disaster. Spin-off results could include non-disaster sharing networks of garden produce, childcare, pet-sitting, bicycles, tools, even cars, as neighbors begin to know and trust each other."
Check this out, a very interesting related article online: How Social Networking Can Help Neighbors During Disasters http://www.pbs.org/idealab/2011/07/how-social-networking-can-help-neighbors-during-disasters192.html
Hood River, Oregon: City of Peace
From Patrick Hiller, ICP Advisory Council
“My visit to Juarez showed that all people I talked to there simply want peace and are fed up with the violence. The peace caravan that came all the way from Cuernavaca was warmly and cheerfully received. What I noticed in the cities of Chihuahua and Juarez (the cities where we were part of the caravan) was that people were nonviolently and hopefully taking back the streets. This is such an important aspect of urban life.
“Here is an op-ed I wrote a few weeks ago, my wife and I participated in the peace caravan and spend some time in Ciudad Juarez.” http://www.newclearvision.com/?s=hiller
Athens, Greece, and Dayton, Ohio
From: Gabriela Pickett, ICP Board Member, Curator of the Missing Peace Art Space
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
In September, 2014, the U.S. City of Dayton, Ohio will host the fifth annual international art festival and exhibition “Friendship through Art”, a global collaboration sponsored by AthensArt, a nonprofit network dedicated to friendship through art.
Dayton, Ohio will follow cities in Greece (2010), Russia (2011), China (2012), and Brazil (2013) in hosting the “Friendship Through Art” Festival and Exhibition. Sponsored by AthensArt and the Center for the Arts 4 Seasons, the Festival includes artists from five continents and 105 countries with nearly 2000 members.
The goal of the AthensArt collaborative is to promote democracy through friendship and artwork. With the theme of “Friendship through Art can Change the World”, the nonprofit organization’s first Festival was in Athens, Greece in 2010. The global festival will return every three years to Athens.
Contact Gabriela Pickett: info@missingpeaceart.org
From: Steve Fryburg and the Pakistan Interfaith Peace Education Program
The group is trying to raise $2,600 for their second annual September Interfaith Peace Education Program.
“Last year we got the approval of the Pakistan Ministry of Education to do Interfaith Education programs in the schools in the Punjab province and the project not only works with the students, but also the teachers to try and promote interfaith tolerance and peace.
"The program goes on for the whole month and culminates on International Peace Day with peace festivities, was done with 18 schools with an estimated direct and indirect benefit to over 8000 students. The Peace Day festivities were attended by 15 schools and over 800 students.
“This is very important in Pakistan now because the fundamentalist element is making it even more difficult for religious minorities to live peacefully in Pakistan. There have been attacks on Christian communities that have accounted for the destruction of complete communities and many deaths.”
For information on how to donate, contact Steve Fryburg, Missing Peace Art Space, 234 S. Dutoit St, Dayton OH 45402-2215; (937) 241-4353; info@missingpeaceart.org
